Shaped like a giant, glass bowl in downtown Kansas City, the Sprint Center has more than 18,000 seats, six locker rooms and ten-foot-high shower heads built to accommodate the tallest of NBA players.

Thanks to sold-out concerts, college basketball tournaments and exhibition games, the Sprint Center was recently ranked as the second busiest arena in the country by Pollstar Magazine, a venue industry publication.

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"This facility and this model we've proven works," said Shani Tate, spokeswoman for AEG, the company that manages the Sprint Center.

However, nearly 5 years after it opened, the Sprint Center still lacks what it was orginally built for -- an NBA or NHL team that would call Kansas City home.

Tate said for now at least, no one is offering to change that.

"We're waiting for an ownership group to step forward with a long-term positive, viable solution for the city," said Tate.

Recently, Sacramento city leaders have been studying the model as a possible Plan B, in case an arena financing deal with the owners of the Sacramento Kings cannot be revived.

Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson said that Council Member Steve Cohn recently traveled to Kansas City to visit the Sprint Center. And the mayor said that a study mission could soon follow.

"But we'd also want to find out in Kansas City what they didn't do as well and how could we learn from their experience and have an even better experience and outcome here," said Johnson.

The Sprint Center was completed in Oct. 2007 at a cost of $276 million. Eighty percent of the cost came from the city of Kansas City and the remaining 20 percent from AEG.

The city and AEG have a revenue-sharing agreement that has resulted in more than $6.1 million being returned to the city.

Critics Question Nearby Development Project

Critics in Kansas City point, not directly to the Sprint Center, but rather to a related redevelopment project.

The Power and Light District is an eight-block development of restaurants and nightclubs that was built across the street from the Sprint Center.

While the district is often busy on arena event nights, it has struggled to attract daytime customers and has not yet spurred the downtown housing boom developers had imagined.

"These new projects almost never produce the revenues that are promised by the promoters and the developers of it," said Richard Tolbert, a former Kansas City council member.

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal called the Power and Light District a budget "hole" because it requires a $12.8 million subsidy at the same time the city is cutting back on its police and fire departments.

"When you're short of money, that's what happens," said Tolbert.

Randall Landes, Kansas City's director of finance, said the district and the arena have separate budgets and loan structures.

And the Sprint Center continues to win over many of its critics.

"It's a beautiful building," said Tolbert.

Tate credits the Sprint Center's operating success to aggressive booking efforts and top-name acts that draw visitors from up to 250 miles away.

Such a wide geographic appeal may be an important distinction as Sacramento leaders study the Kansas City example.

Sacramento is located 120 miles from the only arena in the nation more busy than the Sprint Center -- HP Pavilion in San Jose.

Coming up: How the Sprint Center loan is being repaid and why the revenues for the loan are sometimes falling short.